BMW+BOWLING
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On Sunday, Shaun Cummings became a 2nd time winner (his previous win being in 1999) of the BMW NSW Country Open (known as the Orange Open from 1992 - 1998).
A strong field of 56 bowlers took to the lanes for the 10 games of qualifying on Saturday; and at the end of the day, the highest qualifying mark ever recorded in the history of the tournament saw +18 (201.8 average) needed to make the Top 32 cut; with 37th place being a neat 200 ave. The total qualifying average for all 56 bowlers was over a 204 average; which also beat the previous best total qualifying average of 201.4 recorded in 2005.
Michael Little topped the qualifying with 2298 (229.8 ave) for his 10 games, ahead of Steve Lenton on 2283 (228.3 ave), and Chris Thomas on 2269 (226.9); with both Bronwyn Robinson and Rod Busic tied for 32nd on 2018 (201.8 ave); requiring a 1 game roll-off to break the tie ... first thing on Day 2.
Day 2 started with the 32nd place roll-off; and after a reasonably slow start, Bronwyn finished with 7 strikes in the last 8 frames to record a 238-189 win over Rod.
Top 32 now finalised, it was then 6 games to bowl (with carry over pinfall) before cut to Top 16; then 4 more games (again carry over pinfall) to cut to Top 10; then 4 more games (carry over pinfall) to conclude a 24 game total.
The high scores carried over from Day 1 into Day 2, with a number of 270's, 280's, and the tournament high score of 290 (to Ryan Alewood) being bowled in the first 6 games of the day; and after the 6 games on Day 2 (16 games total), Ryan's 290 game had ended up placing him on top with +479 (229.9 ave) and Jason Doust rounding out the Top 16 with +260 (216.3 ave). 4 more games; and the cut to the Top 10 saw Shaun Cummings atop the list at +575 (228.8 ave) for his 20 games, and JP Li in 10th on +424 (221.2 ave).
The Top 10 then bowled a further 4 games, and with the 14 games on Day 2 seeing 4 different leaders at different stages (Steve Lenton, Cummings, Alewood, and George Frilingos), the closeness of the scores meant that the tournament could have been anybody's.
Going into the last game, Shaun Cummings had a 39 pin lead over Bob Whybrow, who in turn had a 40 pin lead over George Frilingos. However, with a failed thumb-slug in his preferred (strike) ball, Cummings started the last game spare/split-spare/spare/split-open, whilst Whybrow started with 5 strikes in the first 6 frames; and at the 6th frame, Whybrow now had a 10 pin lead over Cummings. But not to be denied, Cummings struck 6 times with his next 7 shots, finishing with a 241 game against Whybrow's 246, and winning the tournament by a margin of 34 pins.
Congratulations Shaun; great bowling throughout the tournament. A great tournament, with a total average of just over 210 for the entire 56 bowlers across the 2 days; and Shaun Cummings a well-deserved winner. Well done Shaun.
And if can share some of my own observations :-
a) I had the pleasure to bowl qualifying with Jarrod Lean. Whilst I struggled to bowl consistently (whether that was consistently good, or consistently bad!), Jarrod started qualifying with games of 278-227-279 = 784. Simply superb bowling where I think he bowled every shot of his 30 frames in the pocket. His 3rd game of 279 beat my game of 137, by 142 pins! I don't know how he was able to keep up his concentration. I picked up a bit later and was able to be a little more competitive. Either way, it was great to bowl with Jarrod.
b) during one game of qualifying, bowling etiquette came to the fore with both Jarrod and Stephen Cowland wanting to 'give way' to each other 2 lanes apart ... with me in the middle! I had to interject and request that one of them "makes up their mind!" It was during this exchange that I realised that if you added the ages of both of these fine bowlers, it still wouldn't add up to mine!
c) later that evening I then had the pleasure to share pizzas with Jarrod, George Frilingos, Michael Little, Tony Murray, and Aldo and Marisa Belmonte. A great evening having a great discussion about the killings at Virginia Tech. Insightful blokes these gents were (as I'd like to think that Tony, Aldo, Marisa, and I were as well ... ;o)
d) well done to Bob Whybrow too. He doesn't possess a 'big shot', but he hits the pocket as well as anybody, and it was great to see him give the tournament a real shake.
e) it was also great to see Jason Doust back at Orange. I don't know all the details of his 'comeback', but he made the cut in the Skyline Classic at Blacktown in February, he made the cut at Macarthur last month, and he made the Top 16 at Orange. Welcome back Jason.
and btw; it was great to watch the dvd (on the weekend) of your win in the '91 South Pacific Classic! As we discussed on the weekend, the '91 SPC was the last one bowled before reactive resin (from memory, the 1992 SPC Finals at Belconnen saw 17 of the Top 20 men qualifiers bowling with Excaliburs!).
All said, all done.
Cheers
Frank van den Berg
Tournament Director (with Aldo Belmonte and Tony Murray) of the
BMW NSW Country Open
A strong field of 56 bowlers took to the lanes for the 10 games of qualifying on Saturday; and at the end of the day, the highest qualifying mark ever recorded in the history of the tournament saw +18 (201.8 average) needed to make the Top 32 cut; with 37th place being a neat 200 ave. The total qualifying average for all 56 bowlers was over a 204 average; which also beat the previous best total qualifying average of 201.4 recorded in 2005.
Michael Little topped the qualifying with 2298 (229.8 ave) for his 10 games, ahead of Steve Lenton on 2283 (228.3 ave), and Chris Thomas on 2269 (226.9); with both Bronwyn Robinson and Rod Busic tied for 32nd on 2018 (201.8 ave); requiring a 1 game roll-off to break the tie ... first thing on Day 2.
Day 2 started with the 32nd place roll-off; and after a reasonably slow start, Bronwyn finished with 7 strikes in the last 8 frames to record a 238-189 win over Rod.
Top 32 now finalised, it was then 6 games to bowl (with carry over pinfall) before cut to Top 16; then 4 more games (again carry over pinfall) to cut to Top 10; then 4 more games (carry over pinfall) to conclude a 24 game total.
The high scores carried over from Day 1 into Day 2, with a number of 270's, 280's, and the tournament high score of 290 (to Ryan Alewood) being bowled in the first 6 games of the day; and after the 6 games on Day 2 (16 games total), Ryan's 290 game had ended up placing him on top with +479 (229.9 ave) and Jason Doust rounding out the Top 16 with +260 (216.3 ave). 4 more games; and the cut to the Top 10 saw Shaun Cummings atop the list at +575 (228.8 ave) for his 20 games, and JP Li in 10th on +424 (221.2 ave).
The Top 10 then bowled a further 4 games, and with the 14 games on Day 2 seeing 4 different leaders at different stages (Steve Lenton, Cummings, Alewood, and George Frilingos), the closeness of the scores meant that the tournament could have been anybody's.
Going into the last game, Shaun Cummings had a 39 pin lead over Bob Whybrow, who in turn had a 40 pin lead over George Frilingos. However, with a failed thumb-slug in his preferred (strike) ball, Cummings started the last game spare/split-spare/spare/split-open, whilst Whybrow started with 5 strikes in the first 6 frames; and at the 6th frame, Whybrow now had a 10 pin lead over Cummings. But not to be denied, Cummings struck 6 times with his next 7 shots, finishing with a 241 game against Whybrow's 246, and winning the tournament by a margin of 34 pins.
Congratulations Shaun; great bowling throughout the tournament. A great tournament, with a total average of just over 210 for the entire 56 bowlers across the 2 days; and Shaun Cummings a well-deserved winner. Well done Shaun.
And if can share some of my own observations :-
a) I had the pleasure to bowl qualifying with Jarrod Lean. Whilst I struggled to bowl consistently (whether that was consistently good, or consistently bad!), Jarrod started qualifying with games of 278-227-279 = 784. Simply superb bowling where I think he bowled every shot of his 30 frames in the pocket. His 3rd game of 279 beat my game of 137, by 142 pins! I don't know how he was able to keep up his concentration. I picked up a bit later and was able to be a little more competitive. Either way, it was great to bowl with Jarrod.
b) during one game of qualifying, bowling etiquette came to the fore with both Jarrod and Stephen Cowland wanting to 'give way' to each other 2 lanes apart ... with me in the middle! I had to interject and request that one of them "makes up their mind!" It was during this exchange that I realised that if you added the ages of both of these fine bowlers, it still wouldn't add up to mine!
c) later that evening I then had the pleasure to share pizzas with Jarrod, George Frilingos, Michael Little, Tony Murray, and Aldo and Marisa Belmonte. A great evening having a great discussion about the killings at Virginia Tech. Insightful blokes these gents were (as I'd like to think that Tony, Aldo, Marisa, and I were as well ... ;o)
d) well done to Bob Whybrow too. He doesn't possess a 'big shot', but he hits the pocket as well as anybody, and it was great to see him give the tournament a real shake.
e) it was also great to see Jason Doust back at Orange. I don't know all the details of his 'comeback', but he made the cut in the Skyline Classic at Blacktown in February, he made the cut at Macarthur last month, and he made the Top 16 at Orange. Welcome back Jason.
and btw; it was great to watch the dvd (on the weekend) of your win in the '91 South Pacific Classic! As we discussed on the weekend, the '91 SPC was the last one bowled before reactive resin (from memory, the 1992 SPC Finals at Belconnen saw 17 of the Top 20 men qualifiers bowling with Excaliburs!).
All said, all done.
Cheers
Frank van den Berg
Tournament Director (with Aldo Belmonte and Tony Murray) of the
BMW NSW Country Open
